PASW Regional Newsletter: Spring 2003
Arts Council England, South West Update
It's now nearly one year ago that the Regional Arts Boards merged with the Arts Council of England; the legal merger took place on 1 April 2002. It was one of the most significant developments in the fifty-six year history of the Council and its partners in the arts. At the time, much of the talk was optimistic and the arguments for merger were enthusiastically backed by Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The single organisation was going to deliver a number of benefits:
- greater leadership for the arts
- greater financial flexibility and capacity to respond to artistic ambition
- less red tape and greater simplicity for artists
- a strengthened voice in making the case for the arts
In the meantime, the Arts Council and all the Regional Arts Boards would continue to work under their existing names and in their same offices while the future structure and identity were more thoroughly developed.
You will probably recall that opinions in the regions were very mixed. The importance of regional distinctiveness and our long-established relationships with the arts in the South West were clearly and strongly articulated. As a result, and one year on, I am confident that the essential balance between national priorities and our shared regional needs is being maintained. There are real opportunities for the South West resulting from the reforms that are now being introduced. More funding decisions will be taken regionally, and the government has announced significant new funding for the arts from April 2004.
Elsewhere in England, changes to the boundaries of some regional boards were applied in April 2002. Here, in the South West, the transfer of Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole, Swindon and Wiltshire to this regional office will occur on 1 April 2003. Throughout England the boundaries of the nine Regional Development Agencies will exactly match our own from April 2003.
Nick Capaldi
Executive Director, Arts Council England, South West